A UNIVERSITY graduate working in a credit card call centre passed secret bank details to a gang who stole more than a quarter of a million pounds from customers' accounts.

Yesterday, Alexandra Morris, who was studying business economics, finance and accounting, was jailed for two years.

Morris, 26, worked in the Barclaycard call centre, in Stockton, while studying at the University of Teesside in 2003.

She used her position to tap into customer accounts to get personal details and passwords, which she forwarded to a man, known only as Steve, from the London gang.

Teesside Crown Court heard how fraudsters used the information to convince other call centre workers they were the legitimate account-holders and to inform them of address changes as well as requesting new cards and PIN numbers.

Over a 14-month period, £225,713 was taken from accounts before the scam was uncovered.

Morris was arrested last December and admitted her involvement when text messages on her mobile phone and paperwork in her car contained account numbers.

Her barrister, Peter Sabiston, said Morris was targeted by the gang because of her job and the financial difficulties she had got into as a student. She was said to have received £20,000 for her role in the fraud, but Mr Sabiston said she had no idea of the scale of it.

Morris, of Fearnville Drive, Leeds, who admitted conspiracy to defraud, is set to have assets worth £8,316 recovered by police.